Parliament's Winter Session
From Dec 15, MPs To Work On New Year's DayNDTV, November
22, 2017

Congress chief
Sonia Gandhi this week accused the PM Narendra Modi of
"sabotage" and said that the government is worried about being
held accountable by the opposition for the economic slowdown
that saw the growth rate declining in the last quarter to a
3-year-low of 5.7%.

The winter session of parliament will begin on December 15 and
end on January 5, the government has decided. Lawmakers will get
a four-day break for Christmas, but will have to work on New
Year's Day, January 1.

The opposition has been scathing in its criticism of the
government's delaying of the end-of-year meeting of parliament
because Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top union ministers are
busy campaigning in Gujarat for next month's election.

Results from the PM's home state, along with those of Himachal
Pradesh, where voting was completed earlier this month, will be
declared on December 18. Campaigning for the last phase of
voting in Gujarat on December 14, will end on December 12.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi this week accused the PM of
"sabotage" and said that the government is worried about being
held accountable by the opposition for the economic slowdown
that saw the growth rate declining in the last quarter to a
3-year-low of 5.7%. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley retaliated
that it's not uncommon for elections to push back parliament
sessions; he said the Congress was no stranger to this practice
when it was in power and had promised that the winter session
would be called "very shortly".

But in the absence of a schedule, opposition leaders were
unassuaged by his reassurance. Congress leader Mallikarjun
Kharge yesterday mordantly said that the PM "is like Brahma. He
is the creator...he alone knows when parliament will be called."

Left leader Sitaram Yechury said the PM is following the
"Gujarat model" because while he governed the western state, the
legislature met sparingly.

In a column for ndtv.com, Trinamool leader Derek O'Brien wrote
that when PM Modi entered parliament for the first time as an MP
after winning the general election in 2014, "He bowed, with his
forehead touching the stairs. He registered his respect for
parliament as he entered it for the first time as a member. What
has happened subsequently is a reversal of those claimed
sentiments. Things have now reached a stage where the Prime
Minister is refusing to visit his 'temple' by not even calling
the winter session."